Exhibition:

WatSpinoza?

Asking questions in Amsterdam

8 May 2009
28 Jun 2009

During WatSpinoza? Mediamatic spread questions around Amsterdam in unexpected ways. The questions were formulated together with philosopher/writer Dirk van Weelden and can be traced back to the body of thought of the Dutch philosopher Spinoza. Mediamatic collected feedback, recycled interesting statements and started a dialogue with and between the people of Amsterdam. People could respond via sms, via watspinoza.nl, and on the blackboards in our exhibition space.

Enlarge

Spinoza, God and Mees - WatSpinoza? wakkert de publieke discussie aan door vragen te stellen gebaseerd op Spinoza's gedachtegoed. We formuleerden de vragen met schrijver/filosoof Dirk van Weelden, en plaatsten ze in de publieke arena. "What do you think God is doing now?" "What do you think God is doing now?" Dorinde de Tempe

With: God

Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Jewish descent who lived in Amsterdam in the 17th century. He was banished from the Jewish community as a result of his radical philosophy and moved away from Amsterdam. His famous work Ethica, published post-mortem, contains some of his most controversial ideas about God and the nature of the human spirit. The project WatSpinoza? demonstrated that his ideas are still topical today.

Exhibition

During the exhibition period people could respond to the questions and participate in Re:Parallax, a re-enactment of the performance Parallax by Zhana Ivanova. May 13th, 14th and 15th Ivanova performed Parallax. This interactive performance confronts the audience with perception of freedom in the experience and design of the work. Re:Parallax allowed visitors to become part of the re-enactment of this performance. Everyone could take their picture in a professionally lit photo set according to the artists directions. Every photo is one image, one frame in a growing online image bank. Together these pictures form a stop-motion film, which will be shown in the exhibition.

WatSpinoza? opened on May 8th 2009 during the start of the art manifestation My Name is Spinoza. WatSpinoza?, Parallax and Re: Parallax were Mediamatic's contributions to the art manifestion My Name is Spinoza.

Exhibition Team

Alice Bodansky, Laura Bultman, Tom Jaspers, Ivan Kadelburg, Bram Loogman, Mhairi Macfarlane, Katja Novitskova, Jans Possel, Zepha de Roo, Liene Rubane, Jelte Timmer, Willem Velthoven, Dirk van Weelden, Marco Wessel, Rebecca Wotzko

Thank you Jan Wicher Emmens.